On May 8, 2024, on the eve of the 79th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden near the Kremlin wall.
Holy Patriarch Kirill laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden near the Kremlin wall.
The solemn ceremony was attended by Metropolitan Pavel of Krutitsy and Kolomna, Patriarchal Vicar of the Moscow Metropolitanate; Metropolitan Grigory of Voskresensk, Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate, First Vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for Moscow, Vicar of the Novospassky Stavropigial Monastery; Metropolitan Nikandr of Naro-Fominsk, Chairman of Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Patriarchate; Metropolitan Feognost of Kashira, chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism, vicar of the Donskiy Stavropegial Monastery; Archbishop Thomas of Odintsovo and Krasnogorsk, head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate; Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate; Archbishop Aksii of Podolsk and Lyubertsy; Archbishop Savva of Zelenograd, deputy administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate; Bishop Seraphim of Istra, chairman of the Synodal Department for Youth Affairs; Bishop Evfimy of Lukhovitsky, chairman of the Synodal Missionary Department, vicar of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Stavropegial Monastery; Bishop Alexis of Ramensk, personal secretary of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill; Protopresbyter Vladimir Divakov, Secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for Moscow; hegumens and hegumesses of stavropegial monasteries; superiors of church districts of the Moscow (City) Eparchy; Moscow clergy.
Moscow (City) Eparchy.
Lieutenant General E.A. Selezenyev, military commandant of Moscow, officers and soldiers of the honor guard company of the 154th separate commandant Preobrazhensky Regiment also took part in the ceremony.
The ceremony was attended by the military commandant of Moscow, Lieutenant General E.A. Selezenyev, officers and soldiers of the honor guard company of the 154th separate commandant Preobrazhensky Regiment.
After the wreath laying, a minute of silence was declared. The military band played the National Anthem of Russia.
After the wreath laying, a minute of silence was declared.
The Primate, hierarchs and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church shouted «Eternal Memory» «to the leaders and soldiers on the battlefield who laid down their lives for faith and Fatherland» and sang the troparion of the Easter holiday.
The solemn march of the honor guard company of the 154th separate commandant Preobrazhensky Regiment took place.
After that there was a solemn march of the honor guard company of the 154th separate commandant Preobrazhensky Regiment.
Holy Patriarch Kirill congratulated the soldiers:
Holy Patriarch Kirill congratulated the soldiers.
«Dear brothers, I cordially greet you and congratulate you on this wonderful day!"
«Dear brothers, I cordially greet you and congratulate you on this wonderful day!
Every time, seeing your faces, your dressing, your wonderful Russian military uniform, one feels proud of our people, of the way they are represented in the valiant Armed Forces. Of course, it is one thing to march and another thing to defend the Motherland, although these two things are very closely related, because both require discipline and a certain dedication. But most of all, of course, they are needed when it comes to life and death, when it comes to the existence of our country itself.
For many years we enjoyed peace, and perhaps the words of the Patriarch would have sounded irrelevant at the time, but today we know that the defense of the homeland — is a reality faced every day by members of our Armed Forces. And God grant that No external force, no internal contradictions have been able to weaken our Fatherland.
Today Russia plays a unique civilizational role in the world, because we are a challenge to those terrible trends that are aimed at the destruction of morality, at the destruction of the most sacred and cherished things that were the basis for the creation of human civilization. Surprisingly, Russia, in a sense, today is a factor that keeps the whole world, the whole modern civilization from terrible degradation, which could lead to the end of human history. Russia has always had a special responsibility for the world, for the existence of people, for the existence of the world. And this responsibility our country so valiantly realized during the Great Patriotic War, playing a decisive role in the defeat of fascism and in the liberation of Europe and the whole world.
God willing, even today Russia would have the spiritual and moral potential, and the Armed Forces would have the military power to stand both on guard of our Fatherland and, in a sense, to protect all those who do not want to live under the yoke of those pseudo-values directed against human nature itself, against history, against culture, against the ideals of the human race. Today we have Russia has a special role to play, and in fulfilling this role and, I would say, this service, our country relies first and foremost on its Armed Forces, which ensure its freedom and independence and which are a formidable warning to all those who might have a desire to take our Fatherland by force.
We all deeply respect our Armed Forces, we love them, and I say this on behalf of the Church.
We all deeply respect our Armed Forces, love them — I say this on behalf of the people, on behalf of the Church. And God grant that in your labors, in your service, in your loyalty to the Fatherland this love of ours is reflected in real, genuine deeds, your courage, your bravery and your selfless loyalty to the oath and service to the Motherland. May God Himself help you on this very honorable, glorious and great path, and may He protect you from all evil and all enemies!
Holy Vladyka then addressed the hierarchs, clergy and monastics:
«Dear Lords, Mother Abbesses, Fathers, Brothers!"
«Dear Lords, Mother Abbesses, Fathers, Brothers!
I cordially greet you all and congratulate you on this wonderful day. In this victory were invested both the strength of the Russian Orthodox Church and the lives of many of our archpastors and shepherds, who carried out their ministry not so much at the front as on the home front or supporting partisan units.
And today, much is also required of us. We are responsible for the spiritual state of the people, and therefore for their ability to distinguish good from evil. The demon has arranged the development of modern civilization in such a way that it mixes the concepts of good and evil, and when the concepts of good and evil are mixed, then a person cannot distinguish good from evil. My words may seem excessive to some, but believe me, the world is on this path, and nothing will stop the movement towards this terrible goal, except God Himself. And to God the Church turns with a prayer for the salvation of the entire human race, for the salvation and preservation of our Fatherland and, of course, for the preservation of our ranks in unity.
I thank you all for the service that you carry both in the Mother See and in other places, and I express the hope that even in this momentous, difficult time, the Church will be worthy of those wonderful saints, clergy and lay people, who in the most difficult times in the history of our Fatherland made their, perhaps in a spiritual sense, decisive contribution to the freedom, independence and well-being of our country. May this service to the world, to people, but first of all to our Fatherland be reflected with all certainty and with all strength in our humble service!
Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
